The Lickerish Quartet

Synopsis

A wealthy couple and their adult son meet a beautiful stuntwoman at a carnival who resembles a woman they had just seen in a pornographic film. Always up for adventure, the three invite her back to their mansion.

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An appealingly gussied up lead balloon that, projected against its own times, may have seemed to catch and release some cool air to some. Perhaps it just caught me in a censorious mood, but setting the film's gaudy aristo-psychedelic visuals to one side, its pleasures seemed restricted to unintentional comedy (fine as far as it goes) and insights into sexuality and psychology at least as dull as its line readings.

Very, very "meta"- a film of people watching a porn film, and occasionally appearing in it. Full of fabulous details: the iconic "drinking bird", and the film projector is a Ducati ! Filmed on location at the Balsorano castle in Abruzzo, Italy; beautifully shot and edited. Radley Metzger was the greatest auteur of the golden age of soft-core porn, 1959 (Russ Meyer"s 1st feature) to 1984 (Metzger's last).This film is

A good film, but not without it's fair number of weaknesses. The biggest issue I had with it was the heavy handedness of some of the key plot points. This peaked at the library sex scene, with the excessive cuts to the dictionary print on the floor. But regardless, there is still some incredible moments. This is especially found in the camera work and overall tone of the film rather than the acting or dialogue.

Early 70s Freudian Twilight Zone soft-core, touching on heady Lacanian notions of image, projection and fantasy, that are really, really hard to take seriously when the alpha male lead has some pretty distinct Wallace Shawn in the Princess Bride traits going on. Beautifully shot on location at a 700 year old castle in Italy; watch for the opulence, the camerawork, that motorcycle daredevil scene, and film history.

You guys don't worry, its not like Jean Rollin at all. I feel like the people sipping the Hater-Aid on this one are missing the point. Its a surrealist/absurdist melodrama that satirizes lust and the wealthy. It shows sex in a far too ridiculous way to be taken at face value. Metzger is highly accomplished technically.

Incredible cinematography and editing throughout. The scene where it keeps jumping between a slow shot of a door opening slowly and a shocked face left me horrified, despite not being a horror film. There's great imagery here and it's worth multiple viewings.

I thought this was aimng for a more phantasmagorical direction at first, using the son's magic and phobias and the girl's shifting identity to turn this into a psychedelic '60s experience. But it become more an ode to the libidinous, swinging '60s, with the girl turning on each member of the family and presumably opening their minds. A campy diversion.